Mitten



Feb. 22, 1944. w. J. KUEHNEL MITTEN Filed Feb. 7, 1942 I INVENTOR l ZUl/llzam JKI/oehnel v BY . l ATTORNEYS l Patented Feb. 22, 1944 IWIITTEN William J. Kuehnel, Sag Harbor, N. Y., assignerA of one-half to John MerroW,` New Ylk, N. Y.

Application February 7, 1942, Serial No. 429,857

2 ClaimS.

This invention relates to mittens, and more particularly mittens adapted for rough usage and hard work.

The purpose of this invention is to provide a mitten which will protect the wearer against the elements but which at the same time will have suflicient wearing qualities to stand hard usage.

My mitten is particularly adapted for wartime use by mine layers, mine sweepers and other naval units, aviators and ground crews.

One 4oi the objects is to provide a mitten which, in addition to the characteristics heretofore mentioned, is provided with a gun finger which may be used or not, as occasion demands. Mittens have been constructed with a wool lining and leather outer covering to provide Warmth and to protect the Wool from wear. However, when these mittens are used where ropes `or cables have to be handled, the leather is quickly damaged, and if the ropes or cables are wet the mitten or lglove quickly becomes useless.

An object of this invention is, therefore, to provide a mitten which will stand up under the uses described but will not become slippery or damaged by water.

A further object is to provide a mitten, such as described, which may be readily and inexpensively produced.

I With these and other objects in View, reference is had to the accompanying drawing, in which- Fig. 1 is a plan view of a machine embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a detail View showing a step in the manufacture;

Fig. 3 is a view showing a further step in the manufacture;

Fig. 4 is an end View of the tip of the mitten completed;

lFig. 5 is a cross-sectional View taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 6-6 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 'I is an enlarged detail view showing the arrangement of yarn and cord; and

Fig. 8 is a cross-sectional view taken on the line 8-8 of Fig. '7.

My mitten is knitted on a iiat bed machine using two yarns. one consisting of a soft warm wool yarn and the other of a tough coarse linen or cotton cord. A number of mittens may be knitted on the same machine in continuous strips and a series of strips knitted at the same time. As shown in Fig. 6, the cuff II of the mitten I0 is doubled upon itself to provide extra Warmth.

lil

mitten, is knitted solely from wool yarn and the knitting operation starts at the end I4 of the cuff with only the wool yarn being used until the point I5 is reached. The cord is then fed with the yarn in such a way that the cord It covers the yarn on the outside of the glove while the yarn I'I covers the cord on the inside of the glove. This structure may be clearly seen in Figs. 7 and 8 in which the cord It is shown as substantially covering the yarn I'I. In actual practice, where a white cord and a brown yarn are used, the outside of the glove above the culi has the appearance of a white glove while the inside of the glove is almost completely brown.

It will be appreciated that one side, say the back side, of the glove is knitted as the carriage moves in one direction, while the palm portion is knitted on the return movement of the carriage. This necessitates the reversing of the feed on each change of direction of the carriage, so that the cord will always be the outside stitch.

As the knitting of the machine proceeds, both the yarn and the cord are dropped at I8 and cotton striped in to provide an opening for the thumb I9 and again at 20 to provide an opening for the foreiinger 2|.

In order to properly close the tip of the mitten the machine is set up with high and low butt needles, the high butt needles being placed on one side of the bed portion of the machine which will knit the center portion 23 of the mitten. When the top 22 of the mitten is reached, the machine is adjusted so that the cam will only engage the high butt needles, which needles pass through the stitches on the opposite side to engage the yarn and to close the center portion of the tip 23 leaving the end stitches 24 and 25 open. Cotton is then striped through to temporarily hold these stitches, and a new mitten is immediately started.

After the strips are removed from the machine, the thumb I9 is knitted in in the customary manner and closed at the tip 26. The trigger finger 2l is then knitted in with a much finer yarn and cord to give this iinger greater feel and senstiveness. The tip 21 is closed in the conventional manner. The stitches 24 and 25 are then drawn together to round out the corners 28 of the mitten.

The mitten is then submitted to the usual brushing and finishing treatment and the resultant product is a mitten having a heavy woolen cuff portion of double thickness, a body portion with a corded outside and a woolen interior, a similar thumb portion, and an auxiliary or trigger The cuff I I, as distinguished from the rest of the 5,5 finger of considerably lighter material and Weight,

fastener may be placed on the auxiliary or trigger 'i n finger to hold it against the back of the hand when not in use.

I claim:

1. A mitten comprising a body, thumb and trigger finger portions, said body and thumb portions being knitted of relatively heavy yarn and cord, with the cord disposed on the exterior of said mitten and the yarn disposed on the interior of said mitten, and said trigger nger being made of relatively iiner cord and yarn.

2. A mitten consisting of a cuil', body, thumb and trigger nger portions, the cuff portion being knitted of heavy wool yarn and doubled upon itself, the body and thumb portions being knitted of relatively heavy cord and yarn with the cord disposed on the exterior of said mitten and the yarn disposed on the interior of said mitten, and said trigger portion being made of relatively iiner cord and yarn and so disposed that the wearer may readily withdraw and insert his index finger into said trigger nger without removing the WILLIAM J. KUEHNEL.

,l -S mitten. 

